Boxes are the ruled surroundings of every comic strip and comic book panel, and even constitute the twenty-four frames per second of the animated film. This exhibition reflects the history and development of these various genres and includes original art, comic books, graphic novels, volumes of single panel cartoons, histories, and criticism drawn from the collection of more than 5,000 books and over 20,000 comic books recently donated to the Penn Libraries by alumnus Steven Rothman. Featured are editorial cartoons; superheroes; underground comix; Terry and the Pirates, Peanuts, and Pogo, Donald Duck and Dirty Duck, Little Lulu, Little Orphan Annie and Little Annie Fanny, Superman and Super Goof.

James Duesing, computer animator and video artist, will give two evening lectures. On February 4, Duesing will speak about his own animation. On February 5, Duesing will speak about the history of animation from his perspective as an artist.
He is currently a professor in electronic and time-based art at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art.

The Penn Libraries is sponsoring a comic book/graphic novel contest inspired by this year's Penn Reading Project selection, Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, by Neil Shubin. Create your own comic book or graphic novel inspired by the themes of evolution and change using Comic Life software. Winners will be announced at the April 1st event, a lecture by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, Signe Wilkinson. Prizes TBA.

While at Penn Nathan Schreiber, '03, created a weekly comic strip, Terrell Quimby, which won the 2001 National College Media Advisers award for Best College Cartoon Strip. He is currently working on Power Out, his first full-length graphic novel.

The first female cartoonist to receive a Pulitzer Prize (1992), Signe Wilkinson draws editorial cartoons for the Philadelphia Daily News and the comic strip Family Tree. Following Wilkinson's presentation about her career the Libraries will announce the winner of the Your Inner Fish Comic Contest.